Electrical connector



Oct. 14, 1941. T. E. M DOWELL v I ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR Filed April 29, 1940 I7. 1 E 17 1:7; Thomas 1?. M flo we/ Patented Oct. 14, 1941 UNETED STATES,

ELECTRICAL CONN ECTOK Thomas E. McDowell, Oak Park, Ill.,;assignor to,

The PyleeNational Company, Chicago, 111., a. corporation, of New Jersey Application April 29, 1940, Serial No. 332,209

2 Claims.

The present invention relates in general to electrical connectors such as companion plugs and receptacles which may be removably connected, and is particularly concerned with improvements in means for supporting one of the companion connectors to enable swinging movements thereof during not only the connecting and disconnecting operations, but also during such time as the members may be interconnectecl.

The present invention is particularly useful and advantageous in connection with railway cars for the plugging in or connection of wayside or auxiliary power to the car for the operation of air-conditioning and other equipment on the car. It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, however, that the invention may with equal facility and advantage be utilized in connection with other devices and equipment and that the invention is susceptible of broad application.

Heretofore, it has been the practice to either rigidly mount an electrical connector, such as a receptacle, on a car in some conveniently accessible location or provide a mounting for the receptacle which would permit only slight lateral movements of the receptacle. Such arrangement proved to be a continual source of trouble. Due to the comparatively inflexible and rigid mountings as previously utilized, excessive strains were frequently imposed on the plug and receptacle during use with the result that the connectors might themselves become damaged or the electric conductors to which the removable companion connector or plug was secured would be subjected to such bending as would in time result in breakage of the cables.

My present invention seeks toovercome the disadvantages and objections attending the use of arrangements such as described above, and proposes to provide a mounting for one of the connectors, for example, the receptacle, wherein the receptacle is free to swing horizontally through a wide arc and thus readily accommodate itself to the difierent directions in which the cables or conductors may be brought to the receptacle.

As a further object, the present invention proposes to provide a connector mounting which is also arranged to enable vertical tilting movement of the connector, the connector being provided with resilient means for cushioning the tilting movements thereof and further act to automatically return the connector to a normal position as soon as the tilting forces are removed.

Other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear from th following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, which illustrate a single embodiment thereof, and in which:

Figure I is a view in elevation showing a plug receiving receptacle mounted on a support embodying the features of the present invention, the receptacle having a companion plug connectively inserted thereinto Figure 2 isan enlarged end view of the plug receptacle and mounting, the plug being removed therefrom, to show details of the manner in which the receptacle is mounted to permit lateral swinging and vertical tilting movements thereof; and

Figures 3 and i are fragmentary sectional views showing means for limiting the tilting movement of the receptacle and means for resiliently retaining the receptacle in a predetermined normal position, taken. substantially on lines III- III and IV-IV of Figure 2.

Asshown on the drawing:

As illustrative of the prment invention, I have shown in Figure 1 a pair of. electrical connectors which have been illustrated in this instanc as comprising a plug receptacle A and companion plug B.

The plug receptacle and plug are arranged with suitable connections at one set of their endsfor bringing in appropriate conductors or cables Ill and H. The otherv ends of the connectors are arranged to be connected together in end to end relation, and the connectors carry suitably arranged contact members (not shown) which are adapted, upon engagement of the connectors, to complete the electrical circuits therethrough and, upon disconnection of the connectors, to interrupt. the circuits,

In the present instance, the. connectors ar arranged f-or telescopic connection, the plug having a sleeve portion 12 at its connection end which is arranged to slide over a tubular portion t3 at the connection endv f the plug receptacle. Moreover, as is the usual practice, the connection end of th receptacle may be provided with a closure member M which is actuatable by a suitable spring [5 to a position closing the connection end of the receptacle, whenever the companion plug is disconnected.

The plug receptacle is supported from the spaced legs 15 and l6 of a straddling yoke member H. The plug receptacle is supported for vertical tilting movement on the yoke, the receptacle casing being provided with oppositely extending trunning projections l8l9 associated with pivot members in the form of bolts 20-20 which are threadedly supported in the yoke legs and have their fre ends respectively extending into end bores of the trunnions.

While the foregoing arrangement enables vertical tilting movements of the plug receptacle, provision must be made to permit lateral swinging movements of the plug receptacle. This is accomplished by pivotally supporting the bridging portion of the yoke upon a pivot member such as a bolt 2| which is utilized to connect the yoke to a supporting flange 22.

The flange 22 is provided with suitable openings 23 for receiving attaching bolts 24 by means of which this flange may be secured to a supporting member which may be of any suitable construction and may comprise one of the frame members of a railway car.

Intermediate its ends, the flange is preferably provided with a recessed portion 26 in which the threaded end of the bolt 2| may be disposed with a securing nut 21 thereon.

It is desirable to provide a wear washer, as shown at 28, between the head of bolt 2| and the adjacent surface of the bridging portion of the yoke. Also, it is preferable to provide a spring washer 29 between the nut 2'! and the adjacent bottom portion of the recess 26. This spring washer acts to maintain the yoke and flange in resilient engagement and frictionally opposes free swinging of the yoke about the bolt 2!, although readily enabling angular adjustment of the yoke whenever desired.

In order that the plug receptacle may be maintained in a normal position for receiving a plug connector, but may at any time be tilted upwardly or downwardly when tilting forces are applied to the receptacle, I have provided a novel spring arrangement.

More specifically, I have provided for this purpose a pair of oppositely extending cantilever springs 30 and 3| which are disposed on the opposite sides of the plug receptacle. The spring 30 is anchored at one end upon a stud 32 on the yoke leg l as by a securing screw 33. The other spring 3| is anchored to a similar stud 34 on the yoke leg l6 by means of a securing screw 35.

It will be noted that the anchored ends of the springs are respectively disposed on opposite sides of the trunnions I8 and 19 or the tilting axis of the plug receptacle, and that the free ends of the springs are respectively disposed adjacent these trunnions.

As more specifically shown in Figures 3 and 4, it will be noted that the trunnion I8 is provided with a radially extending arm or projection 36, and the trunnion I9 is provided with a similar projection 31. The outermost ends of the arms 36 and 31 bear against the respective ends of the springs 39 and 3|, these springs acting through their associated arms and trunnions in opposite directions to maintain the plug receptacle in a predetermined normal position.

Tilting movement of the plug receptacle from its normal position may be limited, and this movement may be greater in one direction from normal than the opposite direction. Limitation of the tilting movement is accomplished by providing a stop as shown at 38 on the arm [5 and a similar stop at 39 on the arm l6. These stops are positioned in the path of movement of the arms 36 and 31 respectively and are abutted thereby upon predetermined movement in one direction or the other.

As shown in the arrangement disclosed in the present instance, these stops are so positioned as to enable, as shown in Figure 1, an upward swing of 12 from horizontal and a downward angular swing of 45 from horizontal. Whenever the plug receptacle has been tilted away from normal position, the affected spring 30 or 3| will act, depending upon the direction in which the plug receptacle has been tilted, to return the plug'receptacle to normal position as soon as the tilting forces have been removed.

From the foregoing description, it will be apparent that the present invention provides an improved connector mounting which enables the connector to be swung through a wide horizontal arc and thus readily accommodate itself to the different directions in which conductors may be rought to the connector and connected thereto by a companion connector; and in which the connector may also be tilted from a normally disposed position, resilient means being provided to return the connector to normal position as soon as the tilting forces have been removed.

Now, it is, of course, to be understood that although I have described in detail the preferred embodiment of my invention, the invention is not to be thus limited, but only insofar as defined by the scope and spirit of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A device of the character described comprising an elongate structure arranged at one end for removable connection with a companion connector, a rotatable yoke member straddling said structure, trunnions supporting the structure on the yoke for tilting movement, oppositely extending springs anchored on said yoke with their free ends disposed adjacent said trunnions, and projections carried by said trunnions arranged to respectively engage and deflect said springs upon tilting movements of the structures from a normal position.

2. A device of the character described comprising an elongate structure arranged at one end for removable connection with a companion connector, a rotatable yoke member straddling said structure, trunnions supporting the structure on the yoke for tilting movement, oppositely extending springs anchored on said yoke with their free ends disposed adjacent said trunnions, projections carried by said trunnions arranged to respectively engage and deflect said springs upon tilting movements of the structures from a normal position, and stop members carried by the yoke in the paths of movement of said projections for limiting the extent of said tilting movements.

THOMAS E. MCDOWELL. 

